Interested in design and technological innovation? Then it’s well worth checking out the INDEX: Awardsfrom Danish company, Design to Improve Life.

Recently announced by the jury, this year’s shortlist includes 46 innovative designs from a pool of 1,123 – including seven in BODY, nine in HOME, 11 in WORK, 10 in PLAY & LEARNING and nine designs in COMMUNITY categories.

There are loads of interesting new products including home batteries from Tesla, cardboard 3-D glasses from Google and a flexible living space from IKEA. Concept finalists representing lesser-known businesses include a man-made leaf by Silk Leaf to improve the air we breathe by generating oxygen out of water and light, a waste credit market by New Hope Ecotech and a cheap paper microscope for identifying illnesses by Foldscope.

Also included in the list of finalists is a innovative desalination unit which our sister company Sutro has worked on promoting in communities. Called Desolenator (the device is pictured above), it is an easy to use, low cost, solar powered (so no electricity required) water desalination system that can make any type of water – including sea water – drinkable.

Another interesting looking project is the Phonebloks modular phone which we first wrote about (admittedly somewhat cynically) here. Created by Dutch designer Dave Hakkens and later developed by Google ATAP (Advanced Technology and Projects group) as Project Ara, Phonebloks is inspired by Lego-like blocks and allows users to swap or replace mobile phone parts as they’re needed, reducing costs and environmental impact. See picture below.